Battle of Caen (1346)

The Battle of Caen was fought on 26 July 1346 when the English army of King Edward III of England stormed the French-held city of Caen in Normandy at the start of the Crecy campaign. The English sacked the town for five days before abandoning it in order to march on Paris; they would permanently capture Caen in 1347.

Background
In July 1346, King Edward III of England and his army of 20,000 English troops invaded northern France via Normandy, sacking much of the countryside in the first chevauchee of the Hundred Years' War. After sacking St. Lo, the English marched on towards Caen, which was three times larger and full of wealth in the form of cloth and other goods. One of the city's two large and extremely wealthy abbeys had 120 nuns, all fully endowed. One of the strongest and finest castles in the region was also located in the town, defended by Sir Robert de Wargnies, who commanded a garrison of 300 Genoese. In the town itself, the Count of Eu and the Count of Tancarville commanded a large force of fighting men. The King of England encamped in open country five miles from Caen, and his fleet docked at Ouistreham, six miles from Caen on the River Orne. The French armed themselves the next morning, ordering the townspeople to do the same. The French commanders kept all their forces in the town to hold the gates, bridge, and river, abandoning the unfortified outskirts to the English. However, the townspeople refused, insisting on marching out to the fields to meet the English. The Count of Eu promised support if they would march to battle, and, when the peasants did so, the Count of Eu and the main French army joined them.

Battle
On that day, 26 July 1346, the English rose early and held Mass before sunrise. The King, his son Edward the Black Prince, and Geoffroy de Harcourt moved forward with the Marshals' banner-bearers in the vanguard. The townspeople were demoralized at the sight of the English army, fleeing in confusion. Soon, their whole order of battle had broken up, and many of them stumbled and fell in an attempt to escape, while others piled on top of them amid the panic. The Counts of Eu and Tancarville knew that the battle was lost, as the English went among the townspeople and showed no mercy, killing most of them. A few knights and squires fled to the castle, which had plenty of room and provisions. The English then slaughtered the fugitives and fought in the streets. The Counts surrendered to the English knight Thomas Holland, who had fought with them in Spain and Prussia, and he then led 16 of his men into the gate tower and took the two counts and 25 knights prisoner. Thomas and several other English knights prevented the rape of several townswomen and nuns, and, meanwhile, the English fleet on the Orne sailed into Caen and captured the city. However, the English had suffered heavy losses, with hundreds of them being killed or wounded by townspeople who threw stones, beams, and masonry at them from the garrets overhanging the narrow streets. King Edward was dissuaded from massacring the population by Harcourt and forbade retaliation, although there were many ugly cases of murder, pillage, arson, and robbery among the criminals within the English army. King Edward then sent his fleet back to England with the loot from Caen and Normandy, and he proceeded to march on Paris, making it as far as Poissy.